BrainStuff Classics: Why Do Movie Theaters Sell Popcorn?

about popcorn. But that's weird, right, How of all the snacks on Earth did popcorn become the mainstay of movie theaters. Well, it starts with a bit of history. See, popcorn had been around for ages, and it was a popular snack at nineteenth century fairs and carnivals, especially after the invention of the first steam powered popcorn pop or back in eighty five. People love the crunchy, salty, inexpensive snack, and

movie theaters hated it. During the era of silent film, these companies followed many of the same rules as traditional theaters, and they did not want to be associated with a loud food that could distract from the show. Additionally, there was a little bit of a class consideration here, Since audiences had to read the dialogue on the screen, they had to be literate a k a. A better sort

of people with superior education. Allowing popcorn inside was, in the opinion of these theater owners, kind of like throwing sawdust on the floor and just saying, sure, just spit wherever you want. Talkies or films with spoken dialogue emerged in ninete and this brought movie theaters to the common folk. Suddenly anyone could cough up some change, grab a seat, and understand what was going on. This was also the time of the Great Depression, when Americans from coast coast

pined for cheap, escapist entertainment. So the average Americans finally found the cinema, and they brought their snack culture along, and the depression affected theaters as well. Theaters with the best chances of surviving were the ones that gave customers what they wanted. If they wanted to eat popcorn while watching a film, well so be it. At first, independent vendors sold popcorn outside the theater, profiting from the casual

passers by as well as future movie patrons. Since corn kernels were dirt, cheap, popcorn became even more popular, and things escalated. Movie theaters allowed vendors to sell popcorn in the lobby for a small fee. Eventually they cut out the vendors entirely acquiring their own poppers. During World War Two, popcorn sales saw another bump. Sugar was rationed, which made many conventional sweet snacks and drinks more expensive, at least

that is when they were available at all. Popcorn, of course, only required salt and popcorn kernels, neither of which were hard to come by. But by then the association between movies and popcorn was firmly established in the mind of the American public. This association continues today. But there's another wrinkle to the story. And you might be saying Christian, Okay, popcorn was cheap in the depression or whatever, But what

happened when did it become so expensive? Good question. The price hike really kicked in on all concessions back in the nineties seventies. See contrary to popular belief, your local movie theater doesn't actually make that much bank off the films it screens. Instead, theaters use concessions to stay in business. According to the Stanford Business School, concessions comprise only about

of a theater's gross revenue, but of its profits. This makes sense when we consider how theaters must split ticket revenue with distributors, but can pocket of whatever they managed to sell at the snack counter. The bulk cost of the ingredients is laughably small, and the profit margin is huge, and don't forget, the stuff is still addictively delicious. Today's episode was written by Ben Bolan and produced by Tyler Clang.

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